50th: Celebrate the gift of surprising and faithful love

Rome (Italy). From 24 to 27 July 2025, thirty Daughters of Mary Help of Christians from different parts of Italy and the world gathered in the Generalate of Rome with Mother Chiara Cazzuola to “live a time of sharing, prayer, and confronting with the Word of God and with Charism, to keep alive the passion for God and for the mission today, like Pilgrims of Hope in the memory of 50th of religious profession”. The Sisters recount:

We arrived from many nations of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America and met in Rome, in the early afternoon of July 24, at the unexpected and most welcome invitation of Mother Chiara Cazzuola, to celebrate with her the 50^th of religious profession and the Jubilee of hope. We are a group of 30 pilgrims who already largely knew each other from having lived together the year of juniorate and the month of preparation for perpetual vows in 1981, another cherished anniversary in the history of our Institute.

In the General House we were welcomed with much warmth and fraternity by the Community and the Superiors present. The days were held with a varied and intense schedule with the aim of Celebrating the gift of surprising and faithful love. On the first day, the contribution offered by Sister Piera Cavaglià to the group’s reflection focused on the theme of the primacy of God and mission starting from the Constitutions, a precious gift for the path to holiness of every FMA. In the introduction, it was underlined: the 50^th of profession must be celebrated with gratitude, because it helps us to return to the source, to remember a gift from the Lord, to live the present with more trust, and to look to the future with hope, because it is enveloped in blessings.

Sister Piera stated that the heart of our Constitutions is the Covenant with God that is expressed in the dynamism of His gift of love and our response. “There was a moment in our lives when we felt called, loved with the affection of predilection, summoned and sent.” Our response, then, materializes in everyday life, in community, with young people, in the territory and in the social context in which we live.

It is the living experience of this Covenant that guarantees the fruitfulness of the Institute and gives consistency to our lives, which thus acquires a broad and universal horizon.

Moving were the testimonies of some Sisters who lived their vocation with joy and love and who, at the end of the day, asked themselves, “Did you give everything? Did you love enough?” Fruitful lives of the same fruitfulness of God! Because being “a sign and expression” of the love of God is the secret of all apostolic fruitfulness. The  Covenant of love unifies and harmonizes life, preserves it from fragmentation, nourishes the passion for God, helps to better understand and respond effectively to the needs of others, as if they were one’s own. The example of Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello confirm this.

Retracing the most significant personal experiences, each was then invited to write and share her Magnificat, a song of gratitude for the tenderness with which the Lord called us to Himself, provoked to go to our brothers and sisters, safeguarded. And, as the Salesian tradition desires, after dinner there was a very cheerful recreation with a prize game in which if you won, you could ‘steal’ another sister’s booty that she had just won, thanks to very changeable rules, dictated only by the desire to have fun.

On 26 July, we experienced the Jubilee day! Walking along Via della Conciliazione, behind the Cross, on the way towards the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, the step was in rhythm with the prayer of Psalm 122, What joy when they said to me, We will go to the house of the Lord, followed by the words of Psalm 83: Blessed is he who lives in your house,  to sing your praises without end… Crossing the Door, our hands caressed the panel with the crucified Christ. Our hope is entirely in His forgiveness and His peace, and in Mary, our help, Mother of hope.

Afterwards, the group headed to Mother Ersilia Canta House, where the reception of the Community, made up of Sisters from five continents, was youthful and joyful. Festive was the greeting, the flowers arranged with typically oriental elegance, the varied and colorful meal, the gifts offered. Sister Eliane Petri explained the origin of the Community, born from the dream of Mother Ersilia: to have a house that would host a spirituality workshop. Thus began the spirituality course, which will turn 50 in October 2026, established by the Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences “Auxilium”. Sister Eliane presented some activities of this course with images and explanations: the pilgrimage to Annecy, in memory of Saint Francis de Sales, and the formative internship In the footsteps of the Founders, in the places of Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello. The encounter ended on the notes of the song, With you I will walk, to reiterate our desire to go through the streets of the world always in the company of the Lord, to recognize Him present in every face, in every cry, and to be signs of His love.

In the afternoon, we resumed our pilgrimage to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. The splendor of the mosaics embraced us and the discreetly illuminated tomb of Pope Francis was a reminder of eternity. We entrusted the Church to the protection of Mary, invoked peace for the world, and entrusted the Jubilee of Young People.

On 27 July, departure for Castel Gandolfo, visiting Borgo Laudato si’, born from the desire of Pope Francis to demonstrate how the principles set out in his encyclical are concretely achievable: education to integral ecology and fraternity, circular and generative economy, environmental sustainability. The Borgo Laudato si’ project is entrusted to the Laudato si’ Higher Formation Center, “a scientific  educational, and social activity organism that works for integral formation.” For its realization, Pope Francis wanted to make available the papal residence of Castel Gandolfo, its 55 hectares used as splendid gardens and agricultural land with an educational farm.

A green gallery of holm oaks introduced us to the enchanted world of gardens bearing vestiges of the ancient villa of Emperor Domitian: columns, vaults, and statues. The only religious symbol consists of a Madonnina framed by two columns surmounted by a triangular tympanum, located shortly after shimmering bodies of water in which goldfish swim and water lilies float. In this place of pure beauty, where the Popes stopped in prayer recommending their apostolic journeys and the needs of the Church to the Mother of God, we prayed Lauds.

At the end of our visit to Borgo Laudato Si’, Methuselah, a 400-year-old holm oak, greeted us. The wounded trunk, the imposing foliage, the powerful and twisted branches spoke to us of an ancient wisdom made of hospitality, of lived history, of strength and resilience. In the Novitiate of Castel Gandolfo, where the Community awaited us, we enjoyed a true jubilee lunch, prepared with care and affection.

The hours sped by: a look to the future. What certainty have I renewed in these days of encounter? What dream will accompany me from now on? What message could I leave to a young FMA? These are the questions that each answered and shared in the afternoon assembly.

I would like to make every moment a time of grace and pass on to young people the wonders that God has accomplished in my life. I would like to help them focus on the essentials… I dream of living with the Lord and accepting everything that will come from His hands. With Mary…

The Eucharistic Celebration presided over by Fr. Luis Roson, SDB, concluded these intense days, rich in fraternity, with the renewal of vows and the bestowal of a lamp by Mother Chiara:

May your lamp always burn, from evening to morning before the Lord, in perpetual thanksgiving.

And so be it. At least for another 50 years!

Photos: Flickr FMA